Paradot
by Paya
Summary: A mysterious creature wants something from Serena, but has no pactience. What does it want? And how far will it go to get it...?


It was a night like most other nights in the Tsukino household. The hour was late and one-by-one the family members trundled off to bed. Serena yawned unabashedly as she slowly made her way to her bedroom. "Good night, everyone," she offered in a voice that revealed more fatigue than enthusiasm. "Good night, Serena," her mother echoed from down the hall. "Have sweet dreams."

Serena shut the door behind her, sighed lazily, and looked longingly at her bed. Suddenly, she stumbled. "Whoa!" She cried as she struggled to regain her balance. "I must be more tired than I thought; I'm falling asleep on my feet!" She managed to giggle in spite of herself, but the wisp of levity quickly turned to alarm as she felt the room start to spin and sway around her. It was as if she were being pulled in several directions at once. She vainly tried to steady herself. "Waaaahhh!!" She cried as she was hurled across the room. "What's happening?!" She had no opportunity to cry out a second time. Suddenly she felt herself spinning through the air, enveloped in a darkness that was as absolute as it was frightening. She was paralyzed. She could neither move nor speak. After what seemed and eternity, the spinning stopped, and the darkness was broken by a soft glow in the distance.

"Where am I?" She queried in a whisper. She reposed on a cold, rocky landscape that offered a stark contrast to the warmth of and softness of the room she had just left. The nearby glow appeared to brighten. She squinted, struggling to make out the details of this dim light that was now approaching her. She gasped as she observed a pair of eyes amidst the curious glow that drew even closer.

_Sailor Moon_, announced a small but strong voice from the midst of the light. _I've been waiting for you._

Serena caught her breath. "How do you know who I am?!"

The childish voice giggled with pure mischief. "In one's subconscious, you can see everything about them that you choose."

Had Serena heard this voice before? It was so familiar…She was going to reach for her brooch, but something stopped her. "Subconscious? Looks more like Alaska," she said, proud to have paid attention in at least one class.

The eyes were unblinking and gave Serena an uneasy feeling. "This terrain gives you comfort after your journey to this place, but it is not going to help you here. I am the one with the control." The new tone sent chills down Serena's spine as she stumbled backwards over a loose stone. When she looked up from her fall the green eyes were on top of her and it was too late to call on her powers.

"Return to me what is mine rightfully mine."

Serena awoke with a long moan as her mother shook her shoulder. "Wake up, sweetie!" She chimed. "It's a beautiful day out! You don't want to waste it now, do you?"

Maybe it was because she was still waking up, but Serena felt that her mother was being unnecessarily nice. She opened her eyes to a pink wall. She blinked herself awake and noticed the flower-patterned bedspread. Filled with bafflement, Serena looked to her waker—not _her_ mother, but a woman that she babysat for two blocks down as a "favor" to her. 

"Oh," Serena yawned. "Good morning Mrs. Olman. Sorry I slept in again."

Mrs. Olman's eyes widened, then she laughed out loud. "You really do like her, don't you?" Serena did not understand. "Well, she will be coming over later because your Dad and I will be going out for our anniversary today." With that she left the room, and Serena still did not quite understand. Was this supposed to be role-reversal?? 

She was in Lani's room, but why there? If she slept, it was always on the couch…What was she doing here? Panic struck Serena as she remembered her "dream." She flung herself from the small bed and immediately noticed her height—over two feet shorter. She dashed down the hall in her full-body PJs that even covered her feet to the bathroom. After several jumps, Serena still could not see herself in the high mirror. On her final attempt, she lost her footing and plopped to her bottom. The bounce caused her dark green hair to fall over her eyes.

Serena gave out an ear-wrenching wail. Green hair!? This had to be a nightmare—a very realistic nightmare! Had she become Lani?! Somehow this tickled a memory that included Rini and Para-Para. 

"NO! I'm sick of waiting! I don't think she'll ever learn!" Raye shouted after Lita suggested a longer wait for Serena. "Being the Meatball-Head that she is, you'd think she'd be the first one here to see the new Sailor V movie."

"Maybe she forgot again?" Lita offered lightly; she took it back at Raye's unencouraged glare.

Mina put a thoughtful finger to her chin and said out of the blue, "You know…I wonder how come they still make Sailor V movies even though I'm not Sailor V any more? Who could ever be beautiful enough to play me!!?" She laughed to the point of crying at her own joke. She was still giggling as Serena walked up and looked at her oddly before joining in.

Ami, Lita and Raye watched dumbfoundedly as the two nearly broke into a riot of laughter. The explosion from Raye cut them off abruptly, "Is your head filled with spaghetti, Meatball-Head??! Or did you try to sneak away with Darien again?!"

Serena's face was blank for a moment, then her blue eyes sparkled with interest. "Oh, yeah! I know who he is!" She smiled happily and said nothing more, waiting for the next question.

Raye's face grew red and everyone jumped away as she leapt onto Serena, yanking on the blonde odangoes. Serena stood there for a moment in unexpected surprise. She gave out piercing wails and glass shattering screams when she caught on to what was happening. She finally broke away from Raye's death-grip with tears streaming her cheeks. "You're mean, Sailor Mars!" She yelped and ran away.

"Wait!" Ami shouted after her, but Serena had already rounded the corner. She turned to the others. "Did you guys see that?"

"I sure did!" Mina squeaked, facing the posters along the theater wall. Stars were in her eyes and hearts were circling her head. "The hottest action actor of all time, Anthony Amadese, is co-staring in this film!" Raye squealed and ran over to see if it was true.

"I think I saw it, Ami." Lita said, stepping up next to her. "You mean Serena, right?"

Ami nodded, not referring to Serena's usual behavior in the situation. "Her eyes…were green…"

"And she called Raye Sailor Mars…!" Lita said with a serious expression. "Why would she do something like that in a public place like this? Does she want everyone to hear??"

First came the screech of his name, then the crash into his leg.

"Oh, Darien!" Lani cried, squeezing his knee. "I've had the most horrible morning! You're not in on this game, are you??"

Darien stopped cringing long enough to speak. "C-Can I help you little girl?"

Lani looked up to him, tears welling up in her peridot-green eyes. "But Darien! It's me, your Meatball-Head! Can't you see…!!!" She wailed. "NO! It can't be true!"

Darien tried to pull away without the child bursting into more tears. He looked around for help, but only met the accusing looks of passing mothers. Lani then wrapped her legs around his creating a lock so that he couldn't shake her off. Again Darien looked around, but this time he spotted Serena.

"Serena!" He called, stopping her. Once she seemed to see him, he called her over and asked for help. Serena gave him a puzzled look, as if she didn't understand what he was asking. When she saw the lock on his leg, a devilish grin spread ear to ear and she waltzed over.

"Hiya Daemon, my bestest-best boyfriend in the whole widest-wide world!" She squawked.

Darien's face went startled. "Daemon??"

"Daemon??!!" Lani echoed, outraged. "It's D-A-R-I-E-N!!!" She let go of Darien's leg and he backed away, keeping his distance from the four and fourteen-year-old. "You could never pass as me, Lani…! Or…whatever you are!" She said with her nose in the air. Her eyes changed then in her rage from green to dark blue.

"It doesn't matter weather I _can_," Serena said simply. "If you don't return what you took from me, Sailor Moon, I _will_."

Darien stepped even further back into the crowd, trying to blend in.

"The name's SERENA!" Lani challenged. "I don't have anything that's yours, you brat!"

Serena's face went so dark as Raye, Ami, Lita and Mina ran up that it was almost featureless. "I was going to give you more time. I was only going to expose you all slowly, but you and Sailor Mars have pushed it. I want them back in an hour." She said in a flat voice. "One hour or everything you have grown to love will belong to me, and you will know how I feel."

Ami, Raye, Lita and Mina watched in utter confusion as Lani gave out a war cry and jumped for Serena, but the blonde jumped away with greater skill than a uniformed Sailor Soldier and disappeared, sending Lani to scrape her knees. She sat up immediately with a wail. 

Lita and Mina were the first to reach the crying child and attempt to comfort it. Ami held her computer and was typing in codes and passwords as Raye stood slightly back, not enjoying the sound of the sobbing. "Lita!" Lani sobbed. "Mina! Can't you tell who I am?? I'm me! Serenaaaaaaah-ha! Waaaaaah!!"

Mina knelt down after taking her hand out of the pocket of her blue jumper. "Here you go Lani," Mina cooed. "Maybe this will cheer you up?" In her hand was a pair of pink ribbons, each had their own shiny paradot as a fastener in the center so that they could be used in different styles. "Serena accidentally wore them on a date with her boyfriend after babysitting you and forgot to give them back to you!" She said with a wink, hoping to not have disturbed her by not agreeing to call her "Serena."

_They just don't understand_, Serena thought to herself as she automatically reached for the hair ties. _I don't even sound like myself in Lani's body. What does that little spore want from me anyway!?_

Ami's computer finally beeped several tones as Lani reached for the light-green gemstones. She gave out a gasp and jumped forwards. "Serena!!"

A light bright enough to blind rained from the jewels as Lani's hand touched them. The girls shielded their eyes and slowly let down their arm-guards as the light dimmed into a green glimmer. Lani was still screaming from surprise.

"Serena!" Ami shouted again and ran up to the child. The watery-blue eyes looked up in shock. "I know! You are Serena! Calm down!"

"WHAT?!" The others hunched over Ami to hear an explanation.

"According to what I can calculate," Ami said, reaching into her hand-purse, "Serena has been visited by a mythical creature that was only supposed to live in fairy tales!" She pulled out a compact mirror and moved behind Lani. The others followed in suit and gawked at the image inside as it was held in front of Lani.

"It's Serena!" Raye cried, not believing her eyes.

"Not Serena," Ami further confused them, "but Serena's Spirit." She pointed to the pavement where Serena's odango-head rested in shadow, causing another wave of gasps. "She must have crossed paths with a Shadow Sprite at one point in time. Apparently, as they are capable to do, It has moved into her body from Lani's. And as it has told us, It is looking for something that Serena has taken from It. The only way she could have taken anything, though, was if it had come from Lani, the body It had been inhabiting."

Lita stood up. "I'll bet it was those ribbons of Lani's that Serena was wearing the other day!"

"You mean earrings!" Raye corrected and pointed to the stunned "Serena's" hand. Now lay two perfect pure-paradot earrings.

Serena jumped up and said in her undeveloped voice, "Well what are we waiting for! This must be what Lani wants, so lets find me so I can get back into myself!" She stood up and ran in the direction of Lani's house.

There wasn't a hint of warning. Serena opened the door to Lani's house and she walked right into the same terrain as the night from before. This time the sky was black and filled with stars. It looked as if she were alone. She gave out a sigh of relief as she noticed her own body again. 

_Good girl,_ the voice said. _Just in time, too. I knew you were a smart girl. Now hand them over…!_

"Promise me!" Serena yelled back. "Promise me that you will stop interfering with people's lives! You are ruining them; thin of what you have done to Lani's!" Finally Serena saw the Shadow Sprite, only because it's tiny black body covered the stars and she caught a glimpse of the light green eyes. 

A pressure wave shoved Serena to the rocks. _Now_! Serena was now paralyzed again and her hand opened by force. The gems lifted from her hands. Serena forced her eyes to look at the Shadow Sprite. The earrings glided up to the sides of It's head. As they joined, nine other colors appeared above it in the arch of an ear. 

Another weird wave hit Serena and she was filled with unimaginable exhaustion. _I don't make promises with humans_, It said. _But now that I have gathered my stolen possessions, I may make an exception… _

Serena awoke with a long moan as her mother shook her shoulder. "Wake up, Serena!" She bellowed. "It's past noon, your friends have called three times to see if you remembered to meet them, you still have to clean your room and you are babysitting for Mrs. Olman in four hours!"

Maybe it was because she was still waking up, but Serena felt that her mother was being unnecessarily grumpy.

The End


End file.
